Veselina Katsarova

Artistic Director, mezzo-soprano

At the age of 4, he began playing the piano. He graduated in piano at the music school of his native town Stara Zagora (1984). He went on to study opera singing with prof. Resa Koleva at the National Academy of Music "Profs. Pancho Vladigerov (1984-1989). In 1989 she won first prize at the International Singing Competition "Neue Stimmen" in Gütersloh.

She made her debut at the Sofia Opera and Ballet with the roles of Rosina ("The Barber of Seville", Rossini), Dorabella ("So Do They All", Mozart), Preziosila ("The Power of Destiny", Verdi). realized and made her first gramophone recording of Tchaikovsky's opera "Dame of Spades" with Emil Chakourov.
Since 1991 she has been a soloist at the Zurich Opera. In the same year he made his debut at the Salzburg Mozart Festival with the role of Annio from Titus' Mercy conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Next came Tancred from Rossini's opera of the same name, conducted by Pinkas Steinberg, Zerlina from Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

In between, he received engagements at the Bavarian Staatsoper, Munich, Wiener Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden, London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Amsterdam, Teatro Comunale - Florence, Opéra Garnier and Opéra Bastille in Paris, Pesaro Festivals, Bregenz Festival, Lyric Opera Chicago, San Francisco Opera, etc. In 2019, she made her debut in the role of Judith from Bartok's The Castle of Duke Bluebeard /Wisbaden, Germany/.

Veselina Katsarova has recorded over 50 CDs, DVDs, and many documentaries have been made about her. In 1996 she won an award for her recording of Maurice Ravel's "Poem of Love and the Sea". She has won an award from the Charmaine Martinelli Foundation for best interpreter of songs. She has received many international honours and awards, the Echo Prize for Classical Music 2003, the European Cultural Award, the Kammersingerin of the Wiener Staatsoper and the Bavarian State Opera.

Since 2016 she has been a member of the Orchestra of the Bavarian Opera. Vesselina Katsarova is the artistic director of the State Opera Stara Zagora.

Repertoire:
Angelina ("Cinderella")
Bercy ("André Chenier")
Annio ("The Mercy of Titus")
Giovanna Seymore ("Anna Boleyn")
Dorabella ("So Do They All")
Elena ("The Beautiful Helena")
Idamante ("Idomeneo")
Isabella ("The Italian in Algiers")
Cherubino ("The Marriage of Figaro")
Meg Page ("Falstaff")
Paulina ("The Lady of Spades")
Pippo ("The Thieving Magpie")
Preziosilla ("The Power of Destiny")
Princess de Bouillon ("Adriana Lecouvreur")
Rosina ("The Seville Barber")
Romeo ("Capulets and Montagues")
Ruggero ("Alcina")
Sesto ("The Mercy of Titus")
Tancred - ("Tancred")
Farnace ("Mithredates, King of Pontus")
Cerlina ("Don Juan")
Charlotte ("Werther")
Judith ("The Castle of the Duke of Bluebeard")
Cantata-oratorical works
Summer Nights (Hector Berlioz)
Requiem (Mozart)
Stabat Mater ( Rossini)
Requiem (Verdi)
Symphony No. 3 (Gustav Mahler)
Symphony No. 5(Gustav Mahler)
Symphonic Poem (Hector Berlioz)
Symphony in E Major (Schubert)
Rhapsody for Alto Op.53 (Brahms)
Caecillienmesse (Haydn)